Smile
by Kiryume
Summary: There is nothing more important in the world than Yuuma's smile.(Platonic Sharkbaitshipping) Character death.


Little Yuuma speeds through the hallways arms spread wide, trying his best to be the most convincing jet plane the boring white walls of the hospital had ever seen, _if _they even know what a jet plane is. His nurse calls for him with a scolding tone yet Yuuma doesn't care - he's finally allowed to get out of bed and the moments he heard it, the young boy had dashed off before anyone could react and tell him he was not actually supposed to leave the room itself.

His small feet slide on the cold, recently washed floor and he loses his balance, crashing into one of the gigantic adults waiting for him at the end of the hall. He is pouting now, something he always does when his fun is over, and the person that served as his break picks him up in his arms to kiss his cheek. "Energetic today, aren't we."

Yuuma nods and extends his little hands, fingers spread wide in front of him. "I am ten today! Ten!"

Several voices laugh, the one belonging to the doctor holding him being the brightest. "Such a big boy. We should take you back to your room though, we left your presents there."

The kid's eyes sparkle with expectation as he attempts to get out of the grip and rush to the room by himself, but he is carried towards there instead. "What did you get me, Shark?"

"If I tell you, it's not a surprise anymore, is it. You'll find out soon enough anyway. And stop calling me that, my name is Ryouga."

"Ryogua has pointy teeth, so you're Shark." Yuma crosses his arms and pretends to be upset, hoping that the usual strategy would work with his caretaker, but Ryouga just shakes his head and pets Yuma's hair with a tender smile. "You're ten yet you still act as if you're nine."

"Well Shark is a big man and he still plays around with little kids like me." Yuma tries to be witty, but that only owns him an ear pull and nose pinch. "Respect your elders, Yuuma." They don't exchange any more words until they reach the room the child was assigned to, not that they actually need to. Yuma and him have created a strong bond of friendship in the years the kid had spent there, so just holding onto each other like that was enough for them to communicate.

_I don't want you to tell him._ Yuuma's mother voice snaps back into the young doctor's mind and a shade of guilt washes away his smile. He helps him up on the way too high bed for such small feet and sits next to him, Yuuma's excitement at the sight of his presents pushing away his worries for the moment.

"You got me booster packs! And the ones I wanted too! Shark, you're the best!" Tiny arms cling around his neck and Ryouga holds the tiny body in a soft hug, always soft for he always fears he could crush him. "You did say you'd defeat me next time we dueled, right? I thought I'd give you some help."

"I would have won our last duel if it hadn't been for that card you pulled out of nowhere."

"Are you implying I'm cheating?" Yuuma takes the hurt look on Ryouga's face for genuine and his eyes fill with tears, tiny fingers clutching around the new cards.

"No! I've just never seen that card before, you practically drew it out of thin air!"

"Maybe I am a magician."

"Sharks don't do magic!"

They keep bickering for several good hours, Ryouga searching for a more comfortable position from which both of them work together on Yuuma's deck, and Yuuma smiles, and that is everything that Ryouga needs to brighten his mood even by the lightest.

_If you tell him, he won't ever be able to smile again. _Ryouga can't afford that, he can't even allow the thought of the kid in front of him not smiling pass through his mind. It's like tabu, and the most painful kind to top it off. Yuuma has to smile, for himself, for everyone, because it brings that strange feeling of closeness and peace into everyone that sees the sight of such innocent gesture. For such things and many more, Yuuma's smile is wanted, needed, and searched for.

"Hey Shark, Shark, are you even listening to me anymore?"

The chirpy tone reminds him where he is as his and Yuuma's eyes interlock. The doctor starts laughing as exaggeratedly as possible to make sure his little friend doesn't suspect a thing, and he pokes the puffed out cheeks. "Sorry, spaced out for a moment. You were saying?"

"Pay attention to me, and_ you _were scolding _me_ about respect, gee."

"Sorry." After a cheek kiss their dueling session resumes, and Ryouga knows the time is coming for him to leave and have Yuuma go to bed, but he simply doesn't want to, he can't bring himself to leave the kid's side that day, because he knows what it means if he does, and it tears his heart apart.

_How much longer does he have? How much more will my boy survive, doctor?  
We're trying our best, but he most likely won't live past his tenth birthday._

"Are you going to come visit me tomorrow too?" The duel over, they both know it's time to part, and Ryouga stands up from the bed as he picks all the cards and carefully puts them away in the box that goes on the shelf above Yuuma's bed. "Of course I am." He lies, because he's certain there most likely won't be a tomorrow for them, and even in those circumstances Ryouga doesn't tell the truth, not as a doctor anymore, but as a friend - for the sake of Yuuma smiling till the end.

"Then I look forward to it!" There it is, the smile everyone wants to see, and little Yuuma wraps himself in the bed sheets too keep himself warm knowing the hospital's heat system was a bit messed up. "See you tomorrow, Shark." He yawns, and it's the cutest sight on Earth. "Kattobingu."

"Kattobingu, Yuuma." The lights flicker off, Ryouga waiting until he was sure Yuuma was fast asleep to close the door and walk away in the silence of the empty hallways. He briefly closes his eyes and hopes that if heaven existed, they'd appreciate his smile just as much as everyone did amongst the living, if they were insisting so much in having a new angel with them.

The engine of Ryouga's car purrs and he sets off. There would be some new kid to befriend in that room tomorrow.


End file.
